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[aerofx]

How are the graphics for Half Life: Source? Somebody please post some screenshots.

 

[DonasaurusRex]

you mean counterstrike source? they are pretty nice...but im too lazy to post pics.

 

[Mihail]

Half-Life: Source is not Half-Life redone on the Source engine.

It is the original Half-Life with certain textures (like water surfaces) improved. There's no point in posting screenshots, because it mostly looks exactly the same. It was another cheapy cop-out by Valve.

 

[aerofx]

Half-Life: Source is not Half-Life redone on the Source engine.

It is the original Half-Life with certain textures (like water surfaces) improved. There's no point in posting screenshots, because it mostly looks exactly the same. It was another cheapy cop-out by Valve.

That's lame.

 

[Boogie]

Ok, I give up. Write a letter to Valve, do whatever you like. The best thing you could ever do is to sell your copy of halflife 1/2, and never purchase another Valve game ever again!

That way you can never be dissapointed.

Holy crap dude. People are expressing legitimate grievances with Steam. And your blanket, irrational defence of the system is coming across like rampant fanboyism.

 

[dark10x]

Half-Life: Source is not Half-Life redone on the Source engine.

It is the original Half-Life with certain textures (like water surfaces) improved. There's no point in posting screenshots, because it mostly looks exactly the same. It was another cheapy cop-out by Valve.

Well, you're right, it is not a big improvement...but there is more to it than that.

You mentioned the water, but a lot of surfaces now have those nice shader effects applied. The biggest change is the fact that the game now reacts more like HL2. The explosions, the physics, etc. are all new. So, it does play a bit differently as a result.

It's still not a huge deal, though.

Ok, I give up. Write a letter to Valve, do whatever you like. The best thing you could ever do is to sell your copy of halflife 1/2, and never purchase another Valve game ever again!

Hey, I enjoyed Half-Life 2...but I KNOW that Steam damaged the experience. There was a pirate release that removed Steam and de-compressed the GCF files (which are used for security). The loading times were reduced by more than 50%. I fully believe that a release of HL2 free of Steam and this security would have been more enjoyable to me.

What really pisses me off is that a lot of this was done in order to stop piracy. However, it was still possible to pirate the game and enjoy it with better performance (though it seemingly took much longer to get a working version out there).

 

[Uncle Dukey]

It's a 1.8 ghz that was bought in 2003.

I can run half-life 2 on a 1.4 ghz (Not fabulously, but it runs well enough to play deathmatch with some friends)... I find it rather surprising that you can't run half-life 1 on a 1.8 ghz.

 

[Burger]

Holy crap dude. People are expressing legitimate grievances with Steam. And your blanket, irrational defence of the system is coming across like rampant fanboyism.

Rampany fanboyism ?

The guy was complaining that CS doesn't run as well as well ever since Valve moved the game to a new backend technology. Valve HAD to do that. It was either that or ditch WON and leave CS & all WON games rotting in the dust. From memory Sierra ran the WON servers, and they crumpled. My defense of Steam is not irrational. Anybody who followed the whole Steam/HL2 development process would know the whole story of what Valve did and their (legitimate) reasons for doing so.

You can still run your 6 year old game online, although you might need a few more resources to do so.

The fact is Valve bust their balls for their customers. They provide a HELL of a lot of content for free.

And to that guy complaining about Steam downloading updates, you can disable updates for any game by right clicking on it in the 'Play Games' menu and disabling the update feature. If you want to monitor your patch downloads right click on the Steam icon in your system tray and click 'Monitor'. Download speeds are rated in Kilobits and Megabits, so take note.

People will never be happy with Steam, it's so different to what other developers have done so far that people will find things to complaint about, because it's different. I believe it is a difference for the better. Sure, there will be kinks here and there, you'll have to live with that. If it pisses you off SOO much, sell your game and don't buy Valve software in the future, it's called voting with your wallet, and it is your ONLY choice.

 

[Burger]

Half-Life: Source is not Half-Life redone on the Source engine.

It is the original Half-Life with certain textures (like water surfaces) improved. There's no point in posting screenshots, because it mostly looks exactly the same. It was another cheapy cop-out by Valve.

Right.

Valve spent years developing not only one of the best (and most scalable) graphics engines, designing and developing Half Life 2, as well as porting CounterStrike to the Source engine. And you want them to remake Halflife 1 (presumably for free) as well ??

Get a grip.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

The girl was complaining

right?

You can still run your 6 year old game online, although you might need a few more resources to do so.

which defies logic

voting with your wallet, and it is your ONLY choice.

How 'bout we buy the game, enjoy it, and then bitch legitimately and constructively so's maybe they'll do a little better next time?

 

[Red Scarlet]

I can run half-life 2 on a 1.4 ghz (Not fabulously, but it runs well enough to play deathmatch with some friends)... I find it rather surprising that you can't run half-life 1 on a 1.8 ghz.

I just installed HL, and like before, *IT* plays fine. Which doesn't really matter; I bought HL to play CS, and only CS.

Before Steam, I would stay connected with no problem, and get into games during the pistol round. Now, I time out from connecting at least once almost every new map/initial server connection. When I finally do manage to connect to a server, it's round 3 or 4. Every map change I have to still 'retry' 2, sometimes 3 times before I can get in the game. Sometimes I have to find a new server because I get pinged out/kicked from servers I get a 95 ping to, where 120 ping was easily connectable to before.

This is why I liked CS before Steam, and not after.

and it is your ONLY choice.

That is exactly why I and others no longer like Valve and/or Steam.

And yes, monk.

 

[Tain]

I've got a question here.

Has anybody decompressed the HL2 GCFs and set it up as a mod? Will this work?

 

[Yusaku]

If you're going to make the 1000th "OMG STEAM SUCKS LOL!" thread, try to add something new to the discussion.

 

[Uncle Dukey]

I just installed HL, and like before, *IT* plays fine. Which doesn't really matter; I bought HL to play CS, and only CS.

Before Steam, I would stay connected with no problem, and get into games during the pistol round. Now, I time out from connecting at least once almost every new map/initial server connection. When I finally do manage to connect to a server, it's round 3 or 4. Every map change I have to still 'retry' 2, sometimes 3 times before I can get in the game. Sometimes I have to find a new server because I get pinged out/kicked from servers I get a 95 ping to, where 120 ping was easily connectable to before.

This is why I liked CS before Steam, and not after.



That is exactly why I and others no longer like Valve and/or Steam.

Oh I see. I got the impression that you were having a bad framerate or something like that. It doesn't sound like it's an issue with the speed of your computer then (really, counter-strike should run on a 166 mhz...).

That's a pretty severe connection issue. There's probably a solution to your problem, but I agree that it definately sucks when an update to a game ends up breaking your ability to play it. Score a point for consoles I guess.

 

[Rorschach]

...what an awful thread. I was actually going to take time to respond to some of the posts, but some of you are just misinformed and want to stay that way.

 

[Burger]

I just installed HL, and like before, *IT* plays fine. Which doesn't really matter; I bought HL to play CS, and only CS.

Before Steam, I would stay connected with no problem, and get into games during the pistol round. Now, I time out from connecting at least once almost every new map/initial server connection. When I finally do manage to connect to a server, it's round 3 or 4. Every map change I have to still 'retry' 2, sometimes 3 times before I can get in the game. Sometimes I have to find a new server because I get pinged out/kicked from servers I get a 95 ping to, where 120 ping was easily connectable to before.

This is why I liked CS before Steam, and not after.



That is exactly why I and others no longer like Valve and/or Steam.

And yes, monk.

Errr, that sounds a bit different than a "Steam Sucks" kind of problem. Have you checked out A) The Steam FAQ's, B) the Steam message boards, C) contacted Steam support about your problem ??

You should do that before giving up.

 

[Burger]

right? (re red scarlet being a girl)

Whatever punk. How the fuck am I supposed to know that ?? I don't live here.

which defies logic

What are you talking about ? CS now runs on entirely different technology both serverside and clientside. To expect a totally seamless transition is stupid, it's why we have patches, to iron out problems. It's logical. If it suddenly stopped working after 6 years without any changes made to it, that would be illogical. Look the fucking word up.

How 'bout we buy the game, enjoy it, and then bitch legitimately and constructively so's maybe they'll do a little better next time?

There was no constructive bitching. There was a few people who wandered in with "I hate Valve", "I hate Steam", "What a piece of Shit". Rather than describe some of the problems they were having (most of which have easy solutions/work arounds) people would rather just slag Valve off.

I've tried to explain why Valve did some of the things they did, but apparently thats not the issue. The issue is I Hate Valve, as per the thread title.

 

[Burger]

I've got a question here.

Has anybody decompressed the HL2 GCFs and set it up as a mod? Will this work?

I believe you can just go ahead and decompress them in the directories that they live in (back up the originals). Check out the message boards at www.steampowered.com and www.halflife2.net

 

[Red Scarlet]

Rather than describe some of the problems they were having (most of which have easy solutions/work arounds) people would rather just slag Valve off.

I've tried to explain why Valve did some of the things they did, but apparently thats not the issue. The issue is I Hate Valve, as per the thread title.

A couple of people have described their problems, but whatever. You love Valve and Steam. They can do no wrong in your world. That's great. But to others, they aren't great, for varying reasons.

As to your questions, no I haven't, as I am a retard with computers and won't know what is being talked about to "fix" my problem that never existed before Steam.

 

[Burger]

A couple of people have described their problems, but whatever. You love Valve and Steam. They can do no wrong in your world. That's great. But to others, they aren't great, for varying reasons.

As to your questions, no I haven't, as I am a retard with computers and won't know what is being talked about to "fix" my problem that never existed before Steam.

Well fuck. Shit happens. If you cannot spare any time to help YOURSELF and sort it out, theres not much any of us can do is there.

 

[Red Scarlet]

Well fuck. Shit happens.

And that's why people are having gripes with Steam.

If you cannot spare any time to help YOURSELF and sort it out, theres not much any of us can do is there.

Nope. Although Rorschach is giving me a hand, instead of going "whoamg how can you hate Steam" ad nauseum.

 

[Burger]

Nope. Although Rorschach is giving me a hand, instead of going "whoamg how can you hate Steam" ad nauseum.

I've tried to point you in the right direction, but you said yourself you are too 'retarded' to follow the most basic of customer support options.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

I approve of this message.

Wherever there is Valve hate, I will be there sucking it up. I feed on it. :lol

 

[Red Scarlet]

I've tried to point you in the right direction, but you said yourself you are too 'retarded' to follow the most basic of customer support options.

Yep, I couldn't even understand what to do in 1.6 to use custom tags anymore, nor could the people I asked.

I don't know crap for computers, so "read the board/faqs" with stuff I don't comprehend means I lose out, which once again, was not a problem before Steam.

 

[MomoPufflet]

There was a pirate release that removed Steam and de-compressed the GCF files (which are used for security). The loading times were reduced by more than 50%.

See, this is the kind of shit I can't stand. I'm fine with "security" up until the point where it starts fucking with the actual game performance.

Steam is shit and basically completely turned me off to playing the game hidden beneath it. What can I say, Valve fucked themselves.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

I think a few people need to get the fuck off their high horses.

Valve one of the few companies that has CONSITENTLY released games of an amazing calibre. Half Life 1 & 2, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress have all been totally fucking amazing.

Day of Defeat was a mod they picked up.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Holy crap dude. People are expressing legitimate grievances with Steam. And your blanket, irrational defence of the system is coming across like rampant fanboyism.

Ding ding ding ding ding ding! You found the princess.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

You can still run your 6 year old game online, although you might need a few more resources to do so.

Needing a stronger system to run an old version of a game is what is illogical.

I believe she was still playing HL CS, and not CS Source. If that's the case, she had a good thing going, enter Steam, and now the old software doesn't perform as well on the same system.

'Course, I'd think there'd be non-steam HL CS alternatives, but you could lose your favorite server.


And BTW, I never claimed that I hated Valve, just that they had fallen in my eyes. Steam helped this.

 

[blackadde]

Valve spent years developing not only one of the best (and most scalable) graphics engines

I loved HL. I loved HL2, although to a lesser extent. But Source is complete dogshit. Anyone who paid attention the Steampowered forums during the months after release can tell you of the well documented stuttering issues - a malicious problem that occured on machines across the performance spectrum and which Valve addressed by dismissing as texture thrashing.

Steam is a resource-hogging buggy POS that treats legitimate customers as criminals, wheras anyone pirating the software in the first place will actually have an easier time playing the damn game by bypassing Steam in the first place.

 

[Red Scarlet]

Needing a stronger system to run an old version of a game is what is illogical.

I believe she was still playing HL CS, and not CS Source. If that's the case, she had a good thing going, enter Steam, and now the old software doesn't perform as well on the same system.

Yeah, that is exactly it. No Source for me; I highly doubt my computer could handle it.

 

[Queeg]

Mmm where to start. Preformance, I'd started playing CS 5 years ago with a good frame rate. As more and more updates came before and after steam the FPS kept slowly dropping. ATM I run a machine 2 - 4 times (depending on which part) more powerful than when I started to play and I don't even get the same frame rate as I had back then. So 2* + increase in requirements to play basically the same game WTF.

Server preformance is another huge bug bear, having played on the same servers over that time I've seen the latency's from the servers go up and up as the FPS of the servers went down (any idea how fun it is to play on a server running at 1 FPS or under is ?), again playing the same game GG.

CS:S is a minefield all unto itself. 1 fps on a P4 2.4 with a 9800pro is wonderful. Let alone the slide show (under 30 fps) that almost always happens firing at an enemy, just when you really need the best FPS out of the game.

Cheating, is another huge thing Valve almost completely disregards, the most timely update I'd ever seen from them was 4+ years ago now when the first speed hacks showed up, and that still took a good week coming. You'd think it would be in their best interest to put resources into catching and banning these miscreants ASAP, to keep the honest players happy and get more money from the twits as they go out and buy yet another copy of the game (as does happen, having seen a number of people have 10+ cd keys banned from our servers having been caught by the admins or the handful of others that also waste their time trying to keep the game clean for Valve to suck people in). Add to that the 100+ variables that are left in that if there is a chance some can be exploited for an advantage over other players you can guarantee that it's being done regularly. Why the hell do players need access to 99% of them anyway.

Now onto the great protection steam is for Valve and how they protect it. Recently there had been a way for people to generate new Steam_ID's for themselves (creating new accounts), mmm great for end users when you want to ban someone over 100 times for cheating within the space of a couple of weeks. One of the fools using this, ISP's was contacted to do something about him which they didn't. So the whole ISP are now banned from playing on our servers affecting 10 - 15 people, great for customer relations for everyone. While Valve took their sweet assed time to fix the problem over months, all the while losing revenue.

How about half finished product release with CS:S lack of skins, maps (although this was never to be a big problem with the CS mapping community being large) to bugs and commands not working. You can tell I enjoyed that time I wasted when someone blocked a choke point and I couldn't kick or ban them from the console. Instead having the go to our external program and placing a temp ban on him there, which we would never have needed if the servers would keep the 1000's of bans in place all the time. Thanks Valve.

Next the faults with CS. CS Report , here is just some of the odd things that happen. I've seen other complaints come up with video footage of other bugs. Plus the many I've picked up on over the years, all can make for a shocking experience. A number of them have never been fixed over the years. They happen online or offline, verse bots even. And don't seem to be fixed to any one hardware or driver config having run many drivers, a few graphics cards, cpu's, motherboards Etc. Alot of which started when CS went commercial and Valve moved to their own code.

Or how about the steam content servers only running on Windows 2003 with ads popping up from the content supplier even if you were connecting to a competing ISP's servers from their service (even if there was a way to tell the clients where to download the content from some ISP's only run Linux). Which at least 1 large ISP in Australia was annoyed with saying they were going to take down their 50+ Half-Life based servers.

And I'm only scratching the surface here.

 

[Shin Johnpv]

Cry me a frikken river.

Valve ran the WON authentication system for 6 years after it's initial release, at no additional cost to you. For $50 you got 6 years of online gaming on Valves dime.

Valve developed a massive backend and client called Steam, invested millions of dollars in creating it (alongside HL2 development) and you still want them to be running WON as well ??

How about you upgrade your POS computer. It's not Valves fault you can't keep up with the jones's.

how about I don't give valve my 50 dollars till they drop steam

theres alot of games out there not playing HL2 won't kill me

steam is a horrible piece of crap and when Pirates have a better and easier time setting up their system and running the game then all that millions spent on it was obviously waisted

when Valve drops steam thats when Ill buy their games again or I should say Ill buy their game and get a ton of user created mods with it

 

[bbyybb]

Ow well your loss, i on the other hand are enjoying the steam system and will continue to enjoy all the user created mods. Dont hold your breath for a non steam system.


Cheers,
bbyybb.